Breaking Point
by LionshadeSC
Summary: It's another day in the Snowdin forest for the Skeleton brothers, and Sans can't help but feel like something is off, like he's lived this day before, and it's really starting to push him the wrong way. . . very short oneshot, slight angst, i'm officially Undertale Trash, glad to be part of the fandom :)


The short skeleton took one step forward, felt the quick adrenaline rush of moving through the fabric of space and time, and fell back into step alongside his brother.

Papyrus did not question his brother's sudden appearance, having been used to it by now, and was too focused on the day's current events to think about anything else. Sans noticed the lighter walk in his step, the gleam in his eyes at the prospect of a new test subject to try out new puzzles on. The shorter skeleton grinned widely.

The snow crunched beneath the brothers' feet as they walked side by side. Flakes of snow drifted from the sky, and Papyrus began to babble suddenly, "Can you believe it, Sans? A real human! At last! It's been years since the last one appeared!"

Sans released a huff of mirthless laughter, and a handful of faces flashed in his minds' eye. His sockets darkened, and colors of purple, green, orange, blue, yellow and cyan flickered like a dying flame on a candle wick. The moment passed, however, and he looked up to his ignorant brother with a fake casual grin, "heh. yeah. it'll be nice to get to try some of them out. you'll _stump_ them for sure, eh?" Sans bumped his elbow against his brother, pointing at a stump on the side of the path. His grin widened into a genuine one, pleased with his pun.

Papyrus rolled his eyes in exasperation, "Sans, please! This is no time for your silly puns! We finally have a human we can try to dupe with our genius puzzles! If I surely befuddle them, Undyne will _have_ to let me in to the Royal Guard out of appreciation of my pure wit!"

Sans held his grin, warmth flooding him as he looked up at his brother, half-listening to his brother's plans for the puzzles and wanting to make sure they would all be ready by the time the human arrived.

The skeleton brothers' steps fell in sync with each other, and as they walked, Sans felt something in his chest form like a tiny, dense snowball, and build up and up until it seemed he might fall over from its weight. He heaved in a tremulous sigh, and finally looked up to his brother to ask the question that hovered in his mind. "hey, paps?"

Halted from his thoughts, the Great Papyrus blinked and looked down at his brother. "Yes, what is it, brother?"

"about the human. . . what are you going to do if they get past the puzzles and you have to fight them?"

Papyrus blinked at this question and stared at his brother like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "Well, I'll fight them to the best of my capabilities, of course! Nothing less than what is expected from the Great Papyrus!"

More warmth flooded Sans at his brother's words, but the worry and anxiety tugged on his chest all the same. "obviously, bro, but. . ." His steps suddenly faltered, and the brothers stopped. The cold snowflakes danced and landed on their heads and got caught in their clothes. Papyus brushed some off that was getting caught in his scarf, distracted as he waited for his brother to finish his thought. Mid-brush, Sans' voice caused him to freeze.

"you're. . . not going to kill them, are you?"

Papyrus looked immediately to his brother, frowning. "Sans what are you-"

The shorter skeleton was staring up at his brother, sockets wide with his eye lights no larger than the pin of a needle. There almost seemed to be a frantic fear flickering in the monster's face, and his sleepless nights were more evident by the darker, worn out marks beneath his eyes. Sans' breath came out in weak pants, and he looked on the verge of being on a panic attack, but he forced himself to speak without choking up too badly.

"you're not going to kill them, right?" he repeated the question, almost frantic.

Papyrus blinked. "What? No, of course not! We don't kill the humans, brother; we only capture them for Undyne to take to Asgore!"

Sans frantic grin relaxed a little, and he loosened his grip on his brother's arm, letting them slide back into the pockets of his hoodie. "yeah; you're right. . . we don't kill."

Papyrus grabbed his brother's shoulder with a gloved hand. "Don't worry, brother! The human will be safe when I fight them; I only need to detain them long enough to contact Undyne so she can come pick them up. They won't die while fighting me."

"okay. thanks bro," Sans quietly murmured, and allowed his voice to give way to silence. He wasn't worried about the human's life, not really, not with the anomaly occurring. Although Sans didn't feel the exact times when a day was reloaded, he was aware when he had lived through a day multiple times, and the familiarity of this situation with the human was too palpable, too filled with deja vu to feel like it had not already happened.

Meaning the anomaly had already died before, and had already reloaded the day from their last 'save' point.

Meaning that if Papyrus did kill the human, the determination would only continue to bring the day to a reload from the last save. This human was too determined to die, and Sans would be forced to go through the same day over and over again if they were resolved to kill the child.

He didn't know how much more of it he could take.


End file.
